For Turkey, Croatia is the most important country in the Balkans. The two countries have supported one another on the international front, they have the same goals regarding EU entry and Turkey openly supported Croatia's admission to NATO at the Istanbul summit, Erdogan said.
PM Sanader said that Croatia expected the same kind of support for its NATO bid at the summit in Riga, to be held this autumn.
Sanader said that one of the main topics of today's talks was integration with the EU.
"I want Croatia and Turkey to close the first chapter and make it the first step in our negotiations with the EU," Sanader told reporters shortly after EU foreign ministers adopted a negotiating position for the opening of concrete talks with Turkey and Croatia on science and research.
As for Turkey, a compromise solution was found due to opposition from Cyprus and it is still not known if the talks will be opened this evening. The negotiating position for talks with Croatia was adopted without debate.
Speaking about Cyprus's veto, Erdogan said that one should leave petty politics aside and focus on the content of 35 chapters to avoid watering down the negotiating process.
PM Sanader voiced confidence that Croatia would complete its negotiations by the end of 2008, and that the situation after that would depend on the adoption of a European constitution and its ratification by the member countries.
"Here in Croatia we expect a referendum on that matter and I am completely optimistic in that regard," Sanader said.
Commenting on Turkey's role in the Southeastern European Cooperation Process (SEECP), which is being chaired by Croatia, Sanader said he hoped that Ankara would keep the role it had had in Southeast Europe since the early 1990s.
"Processes in Southeastern Europe have not been completed. Much remains to be done regarding stabilisation in the region," the Croatian PM said. He added that Croatia and Turkey were considering possibilities to help with constitutional changes in Bosnia-Herzegovina, with respect for the principle of equality of the country's three peoples.
The two prime ministers also discussed economic and cultural cooperation.
Sanader said that economic cooperation had tripled in the last two years, but noted that there was still room for its improvement, an assessment which Erdogan supported.
The Croatian PM supported the opening of a department for Turkish studies at Zagreb's Faculty of Philosophy, voicing hope that a department for the Croatian language would be opened in Turkey soon.
This was Erdogan's first official visit to Zagreb. The Turkish PM is the leader of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) and one of the most popular Turkish politicians. The Western media call him a charismatic Islamist leader. When his party secured a landslide victory in the November 2002 elections, he could not take up office as prime minister because he had been sentenced to prison in 1998 for his pro-Islamist statements.
The election victory enabled legislative changes, after which Erdogan became prime minister. He abandoned his hardline Islamist positions and is now considered a pro-Western Conservative.